The Congo Free State
A Belgian king's private domain built on rubber and terror
In 1885 the vast Congo basin became the personal property of King Leopold II of Belgium. To extract rubber and ivory, people were forced into labour and punished for missed quotas, even by having hands cut off. By various estimates the population fell by millions. After Roger Casement's exposés and an international outcry, Belgium took the colony from the king in 1908.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 19th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1861 Unification of Italy — 24 years earlier
- 1884–1885 Berlin Conference — 1 year earlier
- 1886 Benz's first automobile — 1 year later
- 1889 Eiffel Tower — 4 years later
- 1905 Einstein's miracle year and relativity — 20 years later
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1867 Alaska Purchase — 18 years earlier
- 1869 Tolstoy's War and Peace — 16 years earlier
- 1877 Premiere of Swan Lake — 8 years earlier
- 1895 Popov's radio receiver — 10 years later
- 1905–1907 Russian Revolution of 1905 — 20 years later
Middle East
- 1876–1878 The first Ottoman constitution — 9 years earlier
- 1905–1911 Persian Constitutional Revolution — 20 years later
- 1908 Oil struck at Masjed Soleyman — 23 years later
- 1908 Young Turk Revolution — 23 years later
Asia
- 1876–1878 Great Famine in India — 9 years earlier
- 1883 Eruption of Krakatoa — 2 years earlier
- 1885 Founding of the Indian National Congress — same year
- 1891 Discovery of Java Man — 6 years later
- 1894–1895 First Sino-Japanese War — 9 years later
Americas
- 1867 Canadian Confederation — 18 years earlier
- 1869 First transcontinental railroad — 16 years earlier
- 1876 Invention of the telephone — 9 years earlier
- 1879 Edison's incandescent lamp — 6 years earlier
- 1888 Golden Law abolishes slavery in Brazil — 3 years later
Oceania
- 1893 New Zealand women win the vote — 8 years later
- 1893 Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom — 8 years later
Alive at the time
- Queen Victoria (aged 66)
- Leo Tolstoy (aged 57)
- Dmitri Mendeleev (aged 51)
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (aged 45)
- Thomas Edison (aged 38)
- Vincent van Gogh (aged 32)
- Nikola Tesla (aged 29)
- Marie Curie (aged 18)
- Mahatma Gandhi (aged 16)
- Vladimir Lenin (aged 15)